> The X5000 was announced on Jan 8, 2014.

Yes, this was when the "AmigaOne X5000" name was decided upon. The Cyrus mainboard itself was announced even half a year earlier:

https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?forum=3&topic_id=7001&start=780
http://www.amiga-news.de/en/news/AN-2013-07-00015-EN.html

> I hope this boat anchor isn't holding back further proper MorphOS development.

At least the delay of the X5000 won't hold back MorphOS development ;-)